We have new routing!
We’ve been working on some pretty exciting routing improvements over the last few years and we now offer up to three routing options!
All you need to do is enter your destination as normal, setting any waypoints you want to pass, and you’ll receive up to three different choices of route from A to B*.
If you are in the certain countries*, these have been calculated by combining road data such as speed limits and cycling infrastructure with user feedback (“road rating” - see below for more info!) to offer fast, balanced and quiet routes to your destination.
A fast route gets you to your destination as quickly as possible! If you are in a rush, or just like going quickly, this route might put you on slightly less pleasant roads in the interest of time. If you’re a confident cyclist, or a speedy gonzalez, this is the one for you.
A balanced route is a blend of fast and quiet! You’ll be guided along the best combination of well rated stretches and the most direct route. If you’re pretty confident in the saddle and care about pleasantness as much as pedal-power, this is the one for you.
A quiet route prioritises safety and enjoyability. It will guide you along quieter roads and stretches that previous riders have rated positively. It may take you a little longer to get to your destination but, if you are new to cycling, want to explore a little or are just riding for fun, this is the one for you.
User feedback - "road rating"
The beauty (and pain!) of travelling by bike is that we truly experience the roads we ride along. We know the chaotic corners and nerve-jangling junctions and we know the stretches where the bike path cuts through beautiful green open spaces. We feel every jolt of jumbled paving and the smoothness of a freshly tarmacked road.
Maps and mapping software are key to helping us get around, but they are two-dimensional tools. They can tell us how to get from A to B, but they can’t tell us about how pot-holey a particular road is, or how beautiful the flowers planted along one particular side-street look in spring.
That’s why, after years of working on building a super smart routing engine that takes into account millions of data points, we realised we were missing that key ingredient: human insight. Turns out, the experiences of other people on bikes makes the biggest difference to giving our users the right route.
And that’s where you come in! Every Beeliner around the world has a part to play in building better routes. Have you gone down a wonderful bike path? Or has a bike lane on your commute suddenly been closed by roadworks? Let us know and, when we incorporate all of today’s rating data into tomorrow’s routes, you may well see that your feedback has already improved your ride (and that of countless other Beeliners in your area). Chapeau.
So, how do we get to work?
How to rate your roads!
The first, and most important, thing to say is that everyone, everywhere can rate their roads. You don’t need to be in a country with Beeline Smart Routing to start giving feedback.
Anything that you rate now will be included when we do expand to your country. We will prioritise the routing rollout in countries with lots of road ratings so, if you want Beeline Smart Routing in your country...you know what to do!
Now, let’s get back to the rating itself. If you are enjoying cycling down a road, or stretch of road, and would like to ride on more roads like that, give it a +. If you’re not, and would prefer to avoid them, give it a -. If you’re indifferent, no need to rate it at all. It’s as simple as that!
Different people will probably have different measures of enjoyability so don’t overthink it: just go with your gut. We care about knowing what works (or doesn’t) for you. Of course, if you are on a white knuckle stretch, hold on! If it’s not safe to rate, wait. If you rate immediately before or after a section, your rating will be attributed to the right spot.
At the end of the ride, you’ll have a chance to give the route an overall rating. If it was totally fantastic, give it five stars. If it was pretty average, give it a three...you know the drill!
You will be able to see the roads you have rated any time in the Beeline app if you head to your “heatmap”. And, as you go along, the knowledge that you share will help us to build something truly awesome. For now: let’s get riding and rating.
Thank you for your help making riding more enjoyable for everyone (including yourself!) and helping us to get more people in the saddle in the process. Oh and, as always, if you have any questions or suggestions please let us know! support@beeline.co .
*1. If your route is very short, there might not be many routing options available! This may also be the case if you add lots of waypoints because that doesn’t leave us too much flexibility.
*2. If you're not within a country we have our Smart Routing in yet, your routes will continue to come via our routing provider. But we are looking forward to continuing to expand! If we don’t offer Beeline Smart Routing in your country yet, and you think that we should, please let us know.
